India & Ireland, film & more

Aaranya Kaandam

Just some quick thoughts based on seeing the film Aaranya Kaandam at last year’s SAIFF. Am going back tonight for a second viewing now that the film is out today.

What has stuck with me since that night seven months ago is this: I recall a gritty, stylish, violent and often funny story of one day in the lives of several people that intersect at one point or another, all connected in some way to the Chennai crime world.

Jackie Shroff has put any vanity aside and let it all hang out as Singaperumal, a mean, angry, aging don who slaps his girlfriend Subbu (Yasmin Ponnappa) around when he can’t perform in bed. And wait til you the shagadelic wallpaper in their bedroom.

Jackie Shroff and Sampath Raj

Then there’s his young gofer (played by Ravi Krishna) who’s got a crush on Subbu. And the wonderful Sampath Raj as Pasupathy, a man in Singaperumal’s gang with some problems of his own. Add to this Somasundaram as Kaalayan, a drunk, pea-brained father who is bossed around by his whip-smart and foul-mouthed little son (Master Vasanth).

Sadly, my Tamil is not extensive enough to appreciate it, but I do recall some folks last year relishing the colorful usage of curse words in the film’s dialogues, which ended up delaying the release until the producer could make his case before the censor in Chennai and then in Delhi and convince them that 50+ cuts were not the way to go.

But I did enjoy the discussion among Singaperumal’s guys about women and how you could tell – based on whether a girl liked Rajnikant or Kamalhaasan – how likely you’d be to bed her. Priceless!

See it or skip it

See it! I’ve been waiting months for a chance to watch it again, that must tell you something. Amazing debut from director Thiagarajan Kumararajan.